{"id":7099,"date":"2011-09-12T15:31:52","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T19:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=7099"},"modified":"2011-09-12T15:31:52","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T19:31:52","slug":"daily-mail-embattled-archbishop-of-canterbury-to-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/09\/daily-mail-embattled-archbishop-of-canterbury-to-resign","title":{"rendered":"Daily Mail: Embattled Archbishop of Canterbury to resign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Rowan Williams is planning to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury by the end of next year \u2013 eight years early, London’s Daily Mail<\/em> newspaper reported Monday.<\/p>\n

Rumors have been circulating that the 61-year-old Archbishop, who\u00a0could remain in office\u00a0until he is 70, feels the ten years he has served\u00a0enough in such a demanding job — and is ready to resign. He has presided over a difficult time within the worldwide Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n

In 1534, the Archbishop of Canterbury became the head of the Church of England when King Henry XIII defied the Pope and pulled England out of the Roman Catholic Church. Over the next five centuries, the church expanded beyond the British Isles and today claims 83 million members worldwide.<\/p>\n

However, only 1.7 of those are in England. Another 2.4 million are in the “Episcopal Church in the United States,” which is sharply divided, Large,\u00a0growing and theologically conservative\u00a0congregations in California, Texas and Virginia have attempted to withdraw due to the ECUS’ embrace of homosexual causes and the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop in New England, who while\u00a0serving as a parish\u00a0priest left his wife and children\u00a0to live with a same-sex partner.<\/p>\n

Rowan has had to juggle the relatively liberal, financially affluent,\u00a0and influential American and British hierarchies’ priorities with those of the\u00a0theologically conservative\u00a0bishops leading large and growing congregations in the Third World. The Church of Nigeria\u00a0alone eclipses the British church with\u00a018 million members followed by:<\/p>\n

Church of Uganda – 8.1 million
\nAnglican Church of Kenya – 5.0 million
\nEpiscopal Church of the Sudan – 4.5 million
\nChurch of South India – 3.5 million
\nAnglican Church of Southern Africa – 2.3 million
\nAnglican Church of Tanzania – 2 million<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Williams, who is much more liberal than the African bishops,\u00a0“is said to have told friends that he wants to return to the relative calm of academia, possibly at Oxford or Cambridge, where he spent many years as a professor of theology,” reported the Daily Mail. <\/em><\/p>\n

He recently sparked dissent among the African churches\u00a0when he sought to meet with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n

Williams would likely step down before the next Lambeth Conference, which sees the gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world every ten years. The next one\u00a0is due in 2018.<\/p>\n

“The last one in Canterbury in 2008 nearly saw the collapse of worldwide Anglicanism over the issue of gay priests and bishops, and a number of traditionalists challenged Dr Williams\u2019s authority,” noted the Daily Mail.<\/em><\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to read more<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Rowan Williams is planning to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury by the end of next year \u2013 eight years early, London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported Monday. Rumors have been circulating that the 61-year-old Archbishop, who\u00a0could remain in office\u00a0until he is 70, feels the ten years he has served\u00a0enough in such a demanding job —…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1],"tags":[555,567],"class_list":["post-7099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-uncategorized","tag-episcopal-church","tag-rowan-williams"],"yoast_head":"\nDaily Mail: Embattled Archbishop of Canterbury to resign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/09\/daily-mail-embattled-archbishop-of-canterbury-to-resign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daily Mail: Embattled Archbishop of Canterbury to resign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Rowan Williams is planning to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury by the end of next year \u2013 eight years early, London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported Monday. 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